Edit multiplayer map thumbnails, loading screens, map names

[Slatchey 8]

Halo: CE for MCC PC - Edit multiplayer map thumbnails, loading screens, and map names

Modify the large thumbnails

  i. Download the following programs:

-MCCTexturePackDumper (https://github.com/LordZedd/MCCTexturePackDumper/releases/download/1.0/MCCTexturePackDumper.zip)

-HxD (https://mh-nexus.de/downloads/HxDSetup.zip)

-Paint.NET (https://www.dotpdn.com/files/paint.net.4.2.16.install.zip)

  ii. Enable clipboard history (Windows Key⊞+V)

  1. Copy the contents of the MCCTexturePackDumper ZIP to the \data\ui\texturepacks folder in your MCC installation.
  2. Run MCCTexturePackDumper.exe. Type "levelstexturepack" (without quotes) & hit Enter. Wait for the process to finish.
  3. Open the newly created \texturepacks\levelstexturepack folder.
  4. Locate H1MP_BATTLECREEK_LARGE.png & copy the image.
  5. Open the thumbnail you want to use with Paint.NET.
  6. Resize the image to 668x292 (Ctrl+R).
  7. Add a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) & paste H1MP_BATTLECREEK_LARGE to it.
  8. Select Magic Wand (S, S, S, S) & click on the top right corner of the image.
  9. Select the background layer & hit the delete key.
10. Disable Layer 2 by unmarking the checkbox.
11. Open the Save As... prompt (Ctrl+Shift+S). Click the "Save as type" dropdown & select "DirectDraw Surface (DDS) (*.dds)".
12. A new window will pop up. Make sure "BC1 (Linear, DXT1)" is selected & click OK. Select Flatten.

13. Use HxD to open the newly created DDS image.
14. Highlight the first eight lines & hit the delete key.
15. Highlight the entirety of the remaining text (Ctrl+A) and copy it (Ctrl+C). Close the dds image without saving.

16. Use HxD to open levelstexturepack.temp.bin and select "Select block..." (Ctrl+E).
17. Open _fileindex.txt from the \data\ui\texturepacks\levelstexturepack folder.
18. Locate H1MP_BATTLECREEK_LARGE in the list & find its corresponding offset (D75890) & size (17CF8).
19. Return to HxD & enter the offset in the "Start-offset" text box. Enter the size in the "Length" text box. Click OK.
20. Paste over the selected text (Ctrl+V) & save (Ctrl+S).

Open MCC, select Battle Creek & click the Start tab & you should see the new large thumbnail.

To maintain the style consistency with the vanilla maps, ensure both the large & small thumbnails come from the same screenshot.

Modify the small thumbnails

21. Open the DDS Image in Paint.NET. Resize to 316x160.
22. Add a new layer and paste H1MP_BATTLECREEK to it.
23. Select Magic Wand. Hold Ctrl & click the top right corner of the image & click the lowermost portion of the image.
24. Select the background layer. Hit the delete key to delete the top right small triangular area & the long horizontal line along the bottom.
25. Repeat steps 10-20, but with the offset and size corresponding to H1MP_BATTLECREEK.

Open MCC and navigate to Battle Creek. You should now see the small Battle Creek thumbnail in your game.

Modify multiplayer map names & descriptions

  1. Navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Halo The Master Chief Collection\data\careerdb
  2. Open careerdb.xml with notepad & hit control + f
  3. Starting with beavercreek, search for the title "$H1_MPMap_1-1_Title".
  4. Replace "$H1_MPMap_1-1_Title" with your desired map name.
  5. To the right of title-, there is desc-"$H1_MpMap_1-1_Desc". Replace "$H1_MpMap_1-1_Desc" with your desired map description.
  6. Use 
 to insert a new line of text underneath any text before it. (There's only space for 2 lines, top line has a max of 89-95 characters, depending on character size)
  7. Navigate to next map below (Each map is about 24 lines lines beneath the previous one).
  8. Repeat steps 4-7 to modify the remaining maps.

 

Open MCC and navigate to custom games. You should see your new map names and descriptions.

Modify H1 multiplayer map loading screens

     To maintain the style consistency with the vanilla maps, ensure your custom map loading screen is unique from the large & small map thumbnails.

  1. Copy the contents of the MCCTexturePackDumper ZIP to the Halo The Master Chief Collection\data\ui\texturepacks folder in your MCC installation.
  2. Run MCCTexturePackDumper.exe. Type "loadingtexturepack" (without quotes) & hit Enter. Wait for the process to finish.
  3. Open the newly created \texturepacks\loadingtexturepack folder.
  4. Locate H1MP_BATTLECREEK_LOADING.png & copy the image.
  5. With Paint.NET, open the image you want to use in in place of the vanilla loading image.
  6. Add a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) & paste the H1MP_BATTLECREEK_LOADING image to it.
  7. Disable Layer 2 by unmarking the checkbox.
  8. Open the Save As... prompt (Ctrl+Shift+S). Click the "Save as type" dropdown & select "DirectDraw Surface (DDS) (*.dds)".
  9. A new window will pop up. Make sure "BC1 (Linear, DXT1)" is selected & click OK. Select Flatten.

10. Use HxD to open the newly created DDS image.
12. Highlight the first eight lines & hit the delete key.
13. Highlight the entirety of the remaining text (Ctrl+A) and copy it (Ctrl+C).
14. Close the dds image without saving.

15. Use HxD to open loadingtexturepack.perm.bin and select "Select block..." (Ctrl+E).
16. Open _fileindex.txt from the \data\ui\texturepacks\loadingtexturepack folder.
17. Locate H1MP_BATTLECREEK_LOADING in the list & find its corresponding offset (42BD010) & size (FD200).
18. Return to HxD & enter the offset in the "Start-offset" text box. Enter the size in the "Length" text box." Click OK.
19. Paste over the selected text (Ctrl+V) & save (Ctrl+S).

Open MCC, custom CE game, select Battle Creek & click the Start tab. You should see your new custom loading screen as Battle Creek loads.

 

*EDIT* Taking HUDless screenshots
To get HUD-less full res screenshots for your custom map, use this mod for toggling the HUD on/off: https://www.nexusmods.com/halothemasterchiefcollection/mods/1514
Here's a modpack version of the HUD toggle mod: https://mega.nz/file/AANmXBCB#eZEsMHtncrwFQDnnynFRlYG9iKBJTA955U0hlOR-Ojs
Just make sure that you load up the custom map of your choice, rather than the modified vanilla maps that come with the nexus mod. They're modded to let the player fly and pan around the map.
When loading up your map for custom screenshots, be sure to set Starting Weapon & Secondary Weapon to <None> to get rid of the 1st person weapon model. (see image below)

Edited January 9, 2022 by Slatchey

[Zatarita 407]

Awesome work!

Quite thorough, but not overly verbose c:

 

I’ll have to give it a shot.

 

At one point we found out you can rearrange the text that gets presented during the loading screen too! I dunno if you’d be interested, but I’d be happy to share! Funny enough they use flash files.

[Slatchey 8]

Thanks! I'd love to learn how to edit the map loading screen text, so please post it here. 

[Slatchey 8]

On 12/20/2021 at 9:11 PM, Zatarita said:

Awesome work!

Quite thorough, but not overly verbose c:

 

I’ll have to give it a shot.

 

At one point we found out you can rearrange the text that gets presented during the loading screen too! I dunno if you’d be interested, but I’d be happy to share! Funny enough they use flash files.

Do you have to use the hex editor?

[Zatarita 407]

Sorry for the late reply. So, most of the UI elements are actually flash documents. You can decompile them with a flash decompiler (There may be better ones than this, but this is the one I used to poke around)

You can find the loading screen in Halo The Master Chief Collection\data\ui\Screens

Open it with the flash decompiler and you can mess around with it

 

Same thing with the standalone H1A on 360; however, those screens are inside of one of the s3dpaks.